Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-30
STRANGE INDIAN DANCE.
WHY moka WOanarack Was Of
fen deN mt Her Partner.

Tie night OF my arrival at For'
Reno was bright and clear. The gar
rison was strong; the Indians were
held we'll in check. / was not troubled
with fears for personal safetw A noise
al voices and drums hoated through
the still night air from the tepees sew
eral miles away. MIR. Curtis, one OF
The fort scouts, saddled couple OF
Nbrses, and after supper we galloped
across the level prairie in the moon
light to attend an Arapahoe dance.
On reaching the village we singled
ont the tcpee whence issued the noise
cf drums and voices, and crawl ng
through the door-a hole in the can
vas about three feet high-found our
selves among thirty or forty painted
bucks and squaws. The squaws were
huddied on the ground in one corner
Of the tepee: in the opposite corner
couched the painted braves. An old
drum was on the ground in the center
Of the tepee: around it squatted SIX
mon Iustily beating the drum, and at
the same time bawling at the top OF
their powerful lungs. No notice was
taken of our entrance. We quietly
placed ourselves in the braves corner.
PRESENTLY q equaw arose, and with a
kind OF reeling motion advanced to-
ward u.s. She glanced moment at
row OF bucks, then tapped one ON the
head; he arose and stood in silence.
TIE, sauaw scanned again the faces
before her. : She seemed about to tap
me, on the head, but hesitated, and
finally bestowed her favor upon MIR.
Curtis. He arose to his feet; the
squaw placed herself between her
two partners, her face looking in the
opposite direction from which they
looked then. putting her arm around
the two mems necks, all three began
springing up and down, bowling in
concert with the howls of the men
beating the drum.
Other sauaws came forward, select
ed partners and joined in the strange
dance. I congratulated myself on
being 4 wall-fower; but nv self-grat-
ulations we're premature, for when the
row of braves was pretty well thinned
oat kind hearted maid took pity on
my loneliness and tapped me on the
head. Her other partner was a vii
iainous looking Indian who could
doubtless have run all the day with
out tiring. Certainly the springy mo
tion, which was excessively fatiguing
to me, did not seem to please him.
MolSa Wolftrack (that was the name
OF my squaw partner) was unsparing
IN the looks of contempt she bestowed
on the tenderfoot paleface from the
East. Perhaps blunder made in the
very outset helped to forfeit her good
opinion of me. From sheer force OF
habit, when l arose to dance, l put
my arm under her shawl, around her
waist, there was naught there but the
bare and yielding flesh. Moka re-
moved the arm with jerk and an
indignant glance that is hard to for
get. She looked for the moment as if
she would have liked to perforate my
body with splinters, and then set them
ON fire and watch me slowly sizzle.
At the conclusion of the dance, after
springing up and down until COM
pletely exhausted, my partner did a
singular thing; she turned and gave
me kiss square on the mouth! l
submitted with what seemed to me to
be very good grace indeed, but Moka
nevertheless gave me another savage
look, abruptly removing her arm from
round my neck and retreated to her
corner, apparently disgusted as well
as ofiened. Ny offense, as l subse-
quentiy learned, lay in not transmit
ting from my mouth to hers, when
she kissed me, some bead or other
trinket, as is customary. Mr.. Curtis,
who was acquainted with the custom,
transferred to his partner, by kiss, a
bright blue bead, and SO came out OF
the dance with as much eclat as
though he were a real Indian instead
OF q mere Indian cosmnpnlitan